World Report: First outbreak of bird flu detected in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Indonesia has detected the first outbreak of bird flu in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province where hundreds of chickens have died from the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday.

Bird flu has now been found in 23 of Indonesia's 30 provinces, said Sjamsul Bahri, the Agriculture Ministry's director of animal health. The deadly H5N1 strain has jumped from birds to humans, killing seven people in Indonesia.

But the emergence of the virus in Aceh -- where tens of thousands of people still live in crowded refugee camps following the Dec. 26 tsunami -- is especially worrisome.

Bahri said chickens have been infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus in at least three districts of the province. "Hundreds of chickens have died," he said.

Pinochet indicted on new human rights charges

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet was indicted on human rights charges Thursday and placed under house arrest, hours after he made bail on unrelated corruption charges filed only a day earlier.

In a widely expected decision, Judge Victor Montiglio charged Pinochet in connection with the kidnapping and disappearance of six dissidents in the early years of his 1973-90 dictatorship, his office said.

Montiglio sent a court secretary to Pinochet's Santiago mansion to inform the general of the charges, which will force him to spend his 90th birthday Friday under arrest. The judge did not grant Pinochet bail.

U.N.: Security largely improved ahead of elections

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- The United Nations in Haiti said Thursday it was prepared to provide security for voters in the presidential elections slated for next month, noting that violence had ebbed throughout the country.

Security has considerably improved across Haiti and most violence was centered in the capital and its slums, said Lt. Col. El Ouafi Boulbars, a U.N. military spokesman.

The U.N.'s 7,600-strong peacekeeping mission came to Haiti in June 2004, four months after a violent rebellion led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Human rights groups and international organizations say at least 1,500 people have died in the violence in the capital in the past year, much of it blamed on street gangs that allegedly support Aristide, now in exile in South Africa, and his Lavalas party.

Thousands in Antigua protest against government, accuse it of incompetence, bad leadership

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua -- Thousands of opposition party members in this Caribbean island took to the streets Thursday, protesting against what they said was government incompetence and poor leadership.

Members of the Antigua Labor Party carried signs reading "We want a change from victimization" and "Cost of living high, high, high, while salaries low, low, low" and sang songs as they marched through the heart of the city.

Most demonstrators were ALP members, but they wore white to signify the protest should be nonpartisan. Antiguan political parties are associated with colors, such as red or blue and yellow.

The ALP, which lost power in March 2004 to United Progressive Party, accused the government of imposing taxes that have led to economic hardships in the twin-island nation and for failing to deal with electricity problems that have forced authorities to schedule daily power outages for the last few months.